According to Deadline, Legendary Entertainment is moving toward a deal to acquire live-action Pokémon film rights.
Back in April, THR reported on a bidding war for live-action Pokemon film rights between Legendary Entertainment, Warner Bros, and Sony. Warner has released more than a few animated Pokemon movies, including Pokemon: The First Movie, Pokemon 2000 - The Movie and Pokemon 3 - The Movie.
But it appears that Legendary is actually on its way to securing that deal. It’s great timing for Legendary considering the overwhelming success the World of Warcraft movie had in China.
The success of Pokémon Go may also be a factor in the long-rumored deal’s resurgence. Nintendo’s stock soared 25% after Pokémon Go, making Nintendo worth a whopping $9 billion more. After Miitomo’s struggle to succeed, Pokémon Go marks Nintendo’s first major social media success.
But the credit isn’t all due to Nintendo: Nintendo shares credit with The Pokémon Company, in which it has a one-third stake, as well as Niantic, the company spun off from Google which developed the app.
If Legendary does manage to acquire the live-action film rights to Pokémon, we may see live-action Pikachu on our screens sooner rather than later. Will the Pokémon be CGI? Claymation? Those weird furry suits the guys in Times Square use for photo opps? Details are nonexistent at this point. But we’re waiting.
